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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

OMG Fish -n- "Chips" and a tutu

Today's post was going to be about a super sweet and EASY tutu I am making for each of my girls but then I decided I HAD to include tonight's dinner as it was incredibly tasty! I'm especially proud due to many circumstances I had to overcome (see background below) AND because I usually use recipes I find on line and adapt them slightly to meet my needs, but today I made everything all by myself! These are original recipes, as original as they come, baby!

A little background…..DH hates fish. Every time I cook fish he eats it like an 8 year old who hates fish. Fork held between just two fingers, wrist bend down, food slowly brought to the mouth, you can hear the creaking of the jaw as his mouth opens ever so slowly to take the bite. And somehow I always make fish the nights he didn’t eat lunch and is super hungry…and hence a bit disappointed by the meal.

More background…

4:10 today: rushing out the door to soccer, listening to my soccer-playing son complain, “I don’t want to go to soccer, I don’t think I’m signing up for soccer again” and looking forward to the hour that my 2 girls and I sit bored chit-chat with other bored moms and work on making tutus:

5:30pm today: on the way home from soccer practice, I am driving 3 crazies being driven crazy by 3 darling children, all complaining about what’s for dinner….”I hate fish” the first one says….the second one doesn’t miss a beat “I hate fish” ….third one chimes in “Grandma hates fish”……third one adds “Mommy, I love everything you make”…….”OH I love YOU!!” And the first one barks back "You don't love me cause I don't like your fish?" And then the strangest thing, this song came on and it was silent in my car for 3 min. 26 sec., SILENT. At any rate, the car ride home was loud and obnoxious and met with multiple complaints about the meal to come.

5:45pm: 2 girls are happily drenching fish in flour and breadcrumbs, running the mini-chopper and peeling garlic. 1 boy is out front playing soccer by himself.

6:35pm:AllEVERY LAST MORSEL of dinner is gone DEVOURED!

Fish –n- “Chips”

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds (needed 2.5 lb) Wild Alaskan Cod (Frozen, from Costco, rated “Best choice” by Seafood Watch the website that tells you which fish is healthy to eat and sustainable)

½ ish cup flour (whole wheat of course!)

1/3 ish cup Old Bay Seasoning

1 egg

splash half & half

Panko bread crumbs

Canola Oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Cut fish into strips.

Set-up a station of 3 bowls:

1) flour and Old Bay Seasoning

2) egg, beaten, with splash of half & half

3) panko bread crumbs

Pour enough oil in a cast iron skillet to cover the bottom without having to circle it around manually on the pan…..heat skillet over medium flame. Sprinkle salt and pepper on fish. Drench fish in flour

....then egg

...and finally panko crumbs

Set the fish pieces aside until you have prepared them all so they can cook together. Fill skillet with fish (took me two batches to cook it all) and cook in oil for about 4 minutes, then flip for about 2-3 minutes and then try to flip to each side that hasn’t touched the oil yet for about a minute each side. My fish were kinda thick chunks, so maybe less time if you have thinner strips. Drain on paper towels. Serve with cilantro sauce, below.

Cilantro-lime-Sriracha dipping sauce

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic

small bunch cilantro (I bought a package from TJ’s and used the whole thing)

1/3 cup lite mayo

¼ cup non-fat yogurt

splash half n half (~ 2 TBS)

1-2 TBS Sriracha Hot Sauce

juice of 1 ½ limes

salt

Directions:

Starting with garlic and cilantro, blend all ingredients in a mini-chopper or food processor.

“Chips”

I keeping calling them “chips” as opposed to chips cause they aren’t really French fries at all…they are Sweet Potato Fries and we love them!! I tried to make them from scratch once, and they ended up so mushy it was like eating baby food drenched in oil and salt. So for now, I stick with Trader Joe’s version. We can eat 2 bags.

Remember all those complaining children? They ALL asked for seconds, some thirds. Finally I had to say "No, I ran out!" And best of all, even DH asked for thirds! He was bummed I didn’t cook more fish! WHAT?!?!

So like I said, this post was supposed to be about these tutus I am making for my girls. By the way, they have not taken their ballet shoes off since I bought them yesterday at 9am. They begged to wear them all day yesterday, needing to be carried to and from the car (since you can’t walk outside in them) and insisted on wearing them to bed. And did they forget about them today, NO! They took them off for gymnastics (not sure why) but had them on the rest of the day. So to go with their ballet shoes, I am making them some new tutus with this great no-sew tutu idea I got from a friend (and later found hundreds of YouTube videos on the subject). I’ll do a more detailed post when I finish, but here’s the preliminary.

You start with strips of tulle. I kept thinking my picture was out of focus, so to prove it wasn’t, I included the ribbon in the picture, too.

Then you cut a piece of ribbon 44 inches long PLUS the circumference of the recipient’s waist. You just tie the tulle onto the ribbon. Easy peasy, as the girls say. I’ll post pictures when they are finished and on the girls…..they look somuch cuter “on”. But here’s a sneak peak:

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Hi! I'm Celeste, a stay-at-home mom to 3 wonderful children and wife to my ever-supportive husband. We are currently renovating our 1950's home on a budget. I often say that my husband and I have Nordstrom taste and like to pay Walmart prices for it. I decided to call my blog "My Greenbrae Cottage" because that's what I hope it will be someday, a warm, cozy cottage. I enjoy nutrition and healthy cooking; finding the most economical green products for home, self-care and food; home renovating and decorating; Craigslisting; and playing with my children!